EDITED - Small change in Tommy / Snape interaction.

Tommy's eye colors:

Iris blue - intense

CHAPTER 22 - TOMMY'S PONDERINGS

Tommy leaned back in his chair as he watched the footage from the most recent battles. He seemed relaxed, casual, like any kid watching a show he liked okay but didn't care too much about. That is, it looked like that if you didn't see the intensity behind his iris blue eyes that missed no detail in the frames before him.

"Come on in, Professor Snape," Tommy said without turning when the wizard stopped just outside the open door.

Snape entered, took the open seat beside the young Ranger. "How did you know I was there?" When Tommy shrugged casually, Snape correctly took this to mean he wouldn't tell him how he knew rather than he couldn't. "What are you doing?"

"Analyzing. Mostly trying to see what Zedd might have gotten out of these fights." The final playback ended. "I think we're still good."

"What do you think your enemy saw in the battles?"

"Mostly, he'll know I'm leading even though I'm leaving Jas to handle the spotlight side of things. Though my Rangers used more of our secrets than I had hoped, I don't believe he'll reach the right conclusions. Probably he'll think something along the lines that we upgraded our blasters and that Goldie's horny enough to follow anything female that smiles at him." Tommy turned from the monitors. "So tomorrow is Harry's eleventh birthday?"

"It is." Snape heard the wistfulness in his tone and asked, "Do you know when your birthday is, Tommy?"

Tommy looked surprised at the question. "It's not important."

"There is a simple spell that will tell you when and where you were born." At Tommy's inquisitive expression, Snape said, "If you simply prick your finger and place a drop of blood on a paper, I will perform the spell."

Tommy hesitated but in the end he pulled a piece of paper off the counter and did as he said. Snape noticed a small spark of green flash on Tommy's fingertip, healing the small pinprick, as the hand was resting just short of the paper with his blood. Snape could also see that Tommy kept his eyes on the paper and Snape, showing an understanding of the power of blood that Snape usually had to beat into the heads of his older students.

Seeing how guarded he was, Snape said, "I will place the tip of my wand on the paper, near your blood, and then say the spell."

When Tommy nodded, Snape slowly drew his wand and laid the tip on the paper two inches away from the blood drop, pushing the edge of the distance away for the spell to work since Tommy still didn't look at ease with even this distance, he softly spoke the spell, then put his wand away, trying his best to appear completely non threatening. They watched as the blood flowed into writing. Dublin Ireland, August 31, 1980.

"I was born in Ireland?"

Harry heard this as he entered the room. Harry glanced at the paper and read it aloud. "Hey, that means I'm older than you!"

Tommy frowned at that but said nothing as he was busy trying to wrap his mind around actually having a birth date, of actually knowing where he was born.

"It would place you within the same year at Hogwarts," Snape commented. "A day later and you would have been listed on the following year's roster instead."

"We aren't going to your school," Harry stated.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Where else would you choose? No other school gives the standard of education found at Hogwarts and in no other school could you learn more about your parents."

"I don't care about that," Harry said, glancing worriedly at Tommy. "We're Rangers. We'll stay here."

"You're lying," Tommy stated, matter-of-fact. "I'm not sure if you're lying just to us or to yourself but you do care."

Harry shook his head. "I don't need anyone or anything else, Tommy."

Tommy sighed. "You know when you decided to inform everyone in the room that we lived alone, you were on the exact opposite side of this argument. You are not giving up this chance 'cause you're afraid I'll be upset about it."

"So you want us to go?"

"I didn't say that either. I just said you're not making your choice based on fear. We'll think about it. But for now, tomorrow's your birthday, Har. What would you like to do?"

Harry hesitated. "Well… Professor Snape was telling me about this hidden wizard shopping district in London called Diagon Alley. Think we could check it out? Maybe hide my scar?"

Tommy reached up and laid a hand on Harry's forehead, concentrating. When he dropped his hand, the scar was no longer visible. Snape stared at this in shock. Not only did the boy just perform a wandless, wordless glamour charm, he did so to conceal a curse scar. Curse scars were known to be impervious to glamours or any form of magical concealment.

"That should work," Tommy said. "Alright. Barring battle, we'll teleport to London around, say six in the morning? That'd put us there around 2 in the afternoon." Harry nodded his agreement happily. "You can show us the way to this district, Professor?"

"I will," Snape easily agreed. "You can get your school supplies while we're there. Even if you decide not to attend," he added when it looked like both boys were about to argue, "it would not harm anything for you to have the materials to study yourself. As far as the cost of supplies, the Potters are an old and wealthy family. Mr. Potter's trust vault will be more than sufficient to cover both of your supplies and anything else you might need through your school years. At the end of that time, the Potter family vaults will be open to you."

"I have money?" Harry sounded shocked.

"You are the only heir of a noble family. Once you claim your vaults, you will have no monetary worries."

888

Continued - Let me know what you think. Review